Featherbed Nature Reserve

The Knysna Heads are two sandstone cliffs where the lagoon meets the sea through a narrow, notoriously dangerous channel; the eastern head carries houses and a viewpoint, and the western one is Featherbed, a private reserve that can only be reached by the ferry across the lagoon. The visit is a fixed package: boat over, a tractor-trailer up to the top for the view down the channel, then a guided walk of about two kilometres back down through coastal milkwood forest and fynbos to sea caves and cliffs at the water's edge. It is a declared natural heritage site, and the blue duiker - a forest antelope the size of a hare - lives here in one of its better remaining populations. The 2017 Knysna fires burnt across the reserve and the regrowth is part of what guides now explain. Numbers are controlled because access is only by their boat. The reserve opened to visitors in 1984 on land bought in the 1950s by the ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith with the proceeds of his coelacanth book, Old Fourlegs.

What's there

• The ferry-only access - a headland with no public road, reached across the lagoon.
• The Heads channel - the narrow, dangerous sea entrance seen from above.
• The milkwood walk - a downhill guided route to sea caves at the cliff base.
• The blue duiker - a hare-sized forest antelope surviving on the headland.

When to go

All year. About four hours including the ferry both ways. Book ahead in December and January.

What to expect

Everything is on their schedule - you cannot arrive independently or linger. The walk down is optional but is the best part; the tractor tour alone is short. Trips cancel in rough lagoon conditions. It is priced as a packaged excursion rather than a reserve entry.

Nearby

The eastern Head viewpoint is across the channel; Knysna waterfront is the departure point.

Key facts